MOST of us are not surprised at the demise of Thomas Cook. It is sad the government failed to assist a deservedly well-respected company, but they were not a bank. Banks get a bail out; not tour companies. It would cost £250 million to get Thomas Cook through the winter. I say worth a go, but no. The British Government decide it’s best to spend £100m getting folk back home, while cancelling the holiday dreams of others. Not to mention the thousands who lose their jobs: extreme short-term bad economics. Easy arithmetic to work out that an extra £150m would keep thousands in work for a few months.

READ MORE: Expert says 'radical' shifts responsible for Thomas Cook chaos

A friend in Switzerland told me it is a big news item there. Why so? Thomas Cook were influential in creating modern Switzerland. Recently I read Diccon Bewes’s book Slow Train to Switzerland, about an 1863 trip by Jemima Morell to Switzerland, organised by Thomas Cook – their first venture to the Confederation. Guests were advised to take coins for the beggars in that impoverished country. Jemima describes the natives being as troublesome as wasps.

Quite unbelievable. Thomas Cook, a real man, from England, was largely responsible for Swiss tourism and helped create wealth in a 19th-century impoverished land.

READ MORE: First Scottish holidaymakers return in Thomas Cook chaos

It is worth looking at the similarity of Scotland and Switzerland. Both had century-long feuds with neighbours and religious reformations. Well, John Knox came back from Geneva to give us Calvinism from the Frenchman Jean Calvin, who escaped France and ruled rather nastily in what is now the Swiss Canton of Geneva. He banned jewellery but not watches. Legend has it Calvinism is responsible for the Swiss watch!

The Reformation in Scotland led to further conflict and poverty. Not the fault of the Reformation per se. The establishment before 1560 was the cause of the need to reform, due to obscene poverty – just like now. We need an independent Scotland free to flourish in Europe and beyond. Likewise keep Scotland free for European travellers. At this time EU citizens don’t even need a passport to visit Scotland; only an ID card is required.

READ MORE: Probe over Thomas Cook staff cuts in Scotland as firm goes bust

Switzerland became the land of milk and honey by avoiding war and conflict. Meanwhile, Scotland was super-glued to a British empire hell-bent on violence in order to pillage. Only to end in the disarray of Brexit and begging to the USA.

Switzerland now is embarrassingly too rich; Scotland an embarrassment to itself. Having profits from natural resources taken by your partner in Union to cause further conflict in the world is obscene. A further irony is that I have met many tourists in Scotland from Switzerland who love our fantastic open land and seascapes. Yet they can’t understand why we are so poor in democracy.

Critics claim Thomas Cook was behind the times. I can’t disagree but they should have been given a chance. Especially for the folk who had pre-booked and the staff who are now jobless.

Bryan Clark
Maybole, Ayrshire

THOSE British travellers left abroad due to the collapse of Thomas Cook must be thankful that the UK is still in the EU, although not for much longer, and the protection our membership affords.

Under the EU Package Travel Directive from 2015, tour operators have been required as of July 2018 to ensure their customers are repatriated. The directive also provides travellers who have booked a package holiday with a refund before departure, in case a company files for bankruptcy.

This obligation aims to reduce the financial losses incurred by travellers and is yet another example of the benefits afforded by our membership of the EU, which many Brexiteers view as Brussels-imposed red tape.

Alex Orr
Edinburgh

ISRAELI elections are always a time of heightened fears among Palestinians under occupation. As with the April election, Netanyahu is ratcheting up his rhetoric, now promising voters he will annex most of the Jordan Valley “without annexing a single Palestinian”.

Palestinian citizens of Israel have no hopes of relief from any election result. Benny Gantz, Netanyahu’s main challenger, ran an April election video boasting that he was responsible for bombing parts of Gaza “to the Stone Ages”; the video used scenes of Palestinian funerals, adding a ticking kill counter in the corner of the frame.

Zionist parties outbid each other in promises to harm the Palestinians without any electoral constraints. Current horse-trading notwithstanding, in Israeli politics no governing coalition can be reliant on Knesset members elected by Palestinian Arab citizens.

Netanyahu’s Nation State Law put the “two-state solution” on life support; the latest land-grab threat signs the death certificate. What will Scottish and UK politicians now say, faced with a single state between the Mediterranean and Jordan based on unequal rights between Israelis and Palestinians?

We ask the Scottish Government to reaffirm its 2014 call for an arms embargo on Israel.

Khaled Khalil and 25 Scottish Palestinians:
Waseem Abu Aghlain - Edinburgh
Arafeh Alashi - Inverness
Mohammed Al Azraq - Glasgow
Eman El-Bahnassawi - Edinburgh
Eyad Elyan - Aberdeen
Husam Freikh - Edinburgh
Hala George - Edinburgh
Dr Essam Hadoura - Kirkcaldy
Dr Karolin Hijazi - Aberdeen
Amira Hunter - Glasgow
Mohamad Issa - Dundee
Ali Jabr - Fife
Bahaaa Edin Mahmoud - Aberdeen
Mustafa Al-jayoussi - Edinburgh
Khaled Khalil - Edinburgh
Dr Bashir Odeh - Fife
Rima Omar - Edinburgh
Samer Sa'adah - Edinburgh
Saleh Safi - Edinburgh
Omar Saif - Edinburgh
Nidal Salim - Hamilton
Dr Anita Shanley - Edinburgh
Nada Shawwa - Edinburgh
Wael Shawwish - Glasgow
Wesam Wadi - Edinburgh
Joanna Zaghloul - Edinburgh